His own ‘Cadillac Ranch’

April 7, 2013

MIKADO-Terry Stuit does a lot of things around his rambling 20-acre property to impress his grandkids.

He built a giant bumblebee out of scrap and put it on top of the home he shares with wife, Linda Fahselt. He mounted a giant wind machine on a chassis so he could give rides. He even bought a used fire truck down state for $5,000, loaded it up with family and drove home.

"I got eight grandkids and I do different things to amaze them," the former U.S. Navy Seabee said Sunday.

Article Photos

Although Terry Stuit buried a wrecked Chevrolet nose down six years ago on his property south of Mikado, he can still open the door.

But perhaps his most visible project is one he did six years ago, when Stuit took a neighbor's wrecked Chevy Cavalier and buried it nose down near the road that goes by his house.

"There's no engine in it," he said Sunday, concerned the EPA would think he was polluting. The keys are still in the ignition and he seemed a little surprised when he was able to open the driver's side door.

To position it, Stuit dug a hole with a backhoe he owns. He made a boom out of a steel I-beam and hooked it to a front-end loader that he owns. Then he raised the bucket high enough to lift the car into position.

The 66-year-old said he was inspired by Cadillac Ranch, a series of 10 vintage Cadillacs buried nose down on some land near Amarillo, Texas. He also has another car, a faded turquoise color, that he planted even earlier, but it is now obscured from the road by pine trees that have grown up in the last 15 years.

"His next project is to build a giant sunflower that you can lay in," his wife, Linda, said Sunday.